Kitchen Hacks, Recipes, Humor and Reviews

ideas

I came up this this DIY diddy in a pinch when I was having a Make Your Own Sushi Party and the store had only two mats that would be shared among 12 people, not good. Despite regular grocery stores now carrying all the ingredients needed to make sushi, they often don’t stock the tool to accompany the tastes. I was making the basic items and was having everyone bring a sushi stuffing ingredient of their choice, so there was no chance for a last minute switcheroo. Plans were set. As I didn’t want a watch and wait type of soiree, I grabbed some bamboo skewers and some extra sake(incase this idea didn’t work) and headed home. With a little hustle and some creative license I made sushi mats. The additional sake was still consumed despite the crises aversion or to celebrate the success depending on your disposition. Enough chatter, here is the full instructional: Continue reading →

Whenever I visit my parents, my mother aka Mamma Dukes, seems to take it upon herself to make sure that everyone is full, all the times, day and night. Bless her heart and the fact that she’s a phenomenal cook makes the whole gesture impossible to deny. So one night she decided to hit everyone in their culinary achilles heel and serve up a whole ham with all the fixins.. Let us all bow our heads in silence. Pig has died, pork has risen and I will come again…for seconds. The homily of ham. Halfway through my second helping, I am already thinking about having ham and eggs the next morning, delicious ham sandwiches for lunch and maybe more ham for dinner. Skip to two days later. So. Much. Ham. Too much. I needed to change things up. So, while staring at the tower of Tupperware, I started looking around the rest of the fridge, away from the leftovers. There were radishes, a bushel of cilantro, ginger, chili paste and some Asian sauces and it hit me. Pork Buns! It would change up the the flavor profile thats been lingering for the last few days and we finish off the ham, per the Dukes request. Two birds, one stone. Asian style pork buns are one of my all time food favorites and this is a simple way to transform the leftovers into something unique and delicious. Keep this recipe in the back pocket for when Easter rolls around. Continue reading →